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The Ritualist Reviews

A haunting organ introduces the listeners to Hour of 13's The Ritualist, their follow up to the 2007 self-titled debut full length album. The ominous sounding guitar riffs and the lurking bass line in the background sets the atmosphere for the album. However, this is but the introduction to the album, as Hour of 13 begins the real madness with the second, title track The Ritualist.

At times Swanson's vocals are reminiscent of Ozzy Osbourne's, the slightly nasal yet full bodied vocals, complete with the slight reverb effects on the music, emphasising the old school feel on the music on The Ritualist. The riffs on songs such as The Ritualist at times also remind listeners of Black Sabbath's The Sign of the Southern Cross sounding like Dio-era riffs with Ozzy on vocals, and while the guitar solos are not always full of shredding, are well executed and do not over-saturate the songs. The introduction riff of Naked Star are reminiscent of Iron Maiden's The Prisoner, only set to a doom metal pace. The faster guitar solos on songs such as these remind listeners of the late 70s/early 80s old school heavy metal era, yet retain the atmosphere on the music. The extremely smooth tonal quality of the guitar solos also make them stand out from the rest of the instruments, and to good effect.

The shift in tempo on songs such as Soldiers of Satan certainly provide a different edge to the usual mid-pace that the band tends to use on their other tracks, especially displaying Davis' versatility, and also considering the fact that he handles all instruments on this album, definitely not a simple feat!

Top that up with the evil lyrics lashed out by Swanson about magick rituals and Satanism and the ritualistic atmosphere is complete, making The Ritualist true in every sense of the word.

For fans of metal that are into the extreme spectrums of the genre, Hour of 13's The Ritualist is probably one of the better albums out now that can act as a good introduction to good old school doom metal, along with classics such as Black Sabbath and the likes.